Daily Digest – April 26: All’s Fair in the Free Market

By Tim Price | 04.26.12

Share:

Jonathan Chait writes that Mitt Romney has good news for all of us: getting rich or being born that way means you’re simply better than most other people, so we’ve already achieved perfect economic fairness. On to the next topic!

Reich has a warning for those tempted to gloat about economic slowdowns and political upheaval in the eurozone and China: When your next door neighbor’s house catches fire, it’s not a good idea to just sit back and watch the light show.

Mark Thoma recaps the statement from today’s Fed policy meeting, which notes that there’s no real risk of creating high inflation, just like there’s no risk of them doing more to stimulate job creation because they’re so worried about inflation.

Sarah Jaffe writes that student debt has grown from a mere bubble to the equivalent of the globe Atlas carried on his back, except an entire generation is shouldering the burden and it’s policymakers who seem to be responding with a shrug.

Rep. Miller of North Carolina claims he was one of Eric Schneiderman’s top picks to direct the mortgage task force, but was passed over due to either his lack of prosecutorial experience or his desire to see the task force do some stuff.

Michael Hiltzik makes the radical argument that instead of destroying Social Security now to prevent the horror of having to mildly tweak it in a couple of decades, we should expand and improve its benefits to help more Americans in need.

Arizona, Immigration, and the Supreme Court: A Dispatch from Foxnewsistan (MoJo)

Adam Serwer writes that the tone of yesterday’s Supreme Court hearing on Arizona’s immigration law suggested not just that the conservative justices have already made their minds up, but that Lou Dobbs has made them up for them.

Ali Noorani notes that while Justice Scalia may have decided in his infinite wisdom that anti-illegal immigration laws have nothing to do with racial profiling or discrimination, those who are actually in charge of upholding them beg to differ.

Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess write that financially strapped Americans may no longer need to turn to payday lenders and check cashers to rip them off, since more run-of-the-mill banks are now offering that service as well.

Josh Eidelson notes that an executive order stating that companies cannot receive government reimbursement for anti-union activities has been applied with a peculiar definition of the word “cannot” that translates to “might as well go ahead and.”